I placed the ring there, my fingertips brushing his skin.
But as I started to pull back, my finger caught on something—a jagged edge I hadn’t noticed before.
My head snapped up, a strange heat spiking through my veins?—
And everything shifted.
White light exploded behind my eyes, a pulse like magic and memory all at once. My knees buckled as the world spun, and before I could hit the floor, Zander’s arms wrapped around me.
“Ashlyn!” he shouted, voice raw and panicked. “Ashlyn?—”
The light dimmed slowly, my vision flickering like a dying flame.
My body felt as if it had fallen through time itself. But I could hear him. Feel him.
His arms tight around me. His voice broken and terrified.
And then, with a gasp, I came back—vision blurring, chest rising as air rushed into my lungs.
Zander’s hand cradled the back of my head, his other gripped mine like he was anchoring me to the realm itself.
“What the hell was that?” he breathed.
I blinked, still trembling. “I don’t know.”
“Describe it,” he said.
“Your power mixed with mine… but it wasn’t like before. It felt like…” I shook my head, struggling to find words. “Like a beacon. I can’t explain it. It was like something was summoned.”
Zander’s brows pulled together, worry flickering beneath the protective edge of his expression. “It must be a side effect of the blood oath. Our magic’s gotten stronger since we combined our blood.”
“Do you think it’s dangerous?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, but even as he said it, I was already feeling it.
A low hum in my chest. No—in my bones. Like a pulse that wasn’t mine. A thrum of ancient, searching energy echoing in every corner of me. And something answered.
I staggered back slightly, hand pressed to my ribs as my eyes went wide. The chamber around us faded into a distant blur, the walls too tight to contain what I felt.
They were waking up.
All of them.
“They’re responding…” I breathed.
Zander stepped toward me, his voice a tether. “Who is?”
I lifted my gaze to his, and a chill slid down my spine.
“The dragons,” I whispered. “All the unbound dragons. I feel them—like whispers in the dark. They’re out there, Zander. Near… and far.”
His eyes searched mine, a flicker of awe softening the lines of concern.
“They’re not in Warriath,” I said slowly, my voice distant as the call inside me deepened. “I don’t know where they are… but they’re far from home.”
And in that moment, I realized something terrifyingly beautiful?—
They had heard me.
